With Zach Parise expected to be sidelined indefinitely, the pressure will be on Wild players to pick up the slack offensively.
Two are snakebit wingers Jason Zucker and Charlie Coyle, who ended the season in titanic slumps and look as if they will bookend center Mikko Koivu when the playoffs begin at Dallas on Thursday.
"We just have to treat it like a new season," Coyle said. "It's a new time. Slates are clean. Points are clean. Everyone's in the same boat to start. So treat it as that. But we want to contribute. There's no time to save it for. This is the time. Big players play big when it's big games."
Coyle was the Wild's second-leading goal scorer with 21, but in his final 18 games Coyle scored no goals, had eight assists and registered only 24 shots. In the 18 games before this drought, Coyle scored 11 goals.
It's not only Coyle's offensive output that has slowed. In the final 13 games, he has been credited with only eight hits.
"I feel the playoffs is my type of game and should help me rise to the occasion," he said. "Be better on the walls, physical."
With expectations high after last season scoring 21 goals in 51 games — a 34-goal pace over an 82-game season — Zucker scored 13 goals and had 23 points in 71 games this season. In his past 31 games, Zucker scored two goals, had two assists and was minus-9. He had only 53 shots in that span.
"I've got to find a way to get it done," Zucker said. "But it's nothing to do with statistics. It's all about winning. We need to have as many guys in this room scoring as we can and playing the right way with speed and pace. We need very good games to make sure we're winning. We need every guy in this room to play well to win these games."
